Policy Statement

1. Uses of Faculty Ranks

1. Faculty planning to fill a position in any of the non-professorial ranks, or any of the fixed term professorial ranks, should consult the attached table and/or the Faculty Handbook http://oregonstate.edu/facultystaff/handbook/facranks.html to be sure that the rank selected is appropriate for the duties and responsibilities anticipated to be a part of the job description.
2. Faculty planning to fill a position in any of the non-professorial ranks, or any of the fixed term professorial ranks, should notify all members of the Department to enhance communications and provide opportunity for review and comment.
3. Use of the Senior Research faculty rank, when funded primarily with recurring dollars, must be clearly limited to a fixed term of finite duration, with no intent to extend that term indefinitely. When funded entirely from grants and contracts, the term of appointment, though fixed, can be renewed as appropriate.

2. Changes Between Faculty Ranks

1. Any proposal to change a faculty member’s rank from any of the non-professorial or fixed term ranks to any other non-professorial or fixed term rank shall be submitted to the Department Head, who will forward it to the Department Promotion and Tenure Committee for their review and recommendation. The P&T committee may seek inputs from the faculty at large prior to presenting their recommendation. Implementation of such changes as recommended by the P&T committee is an administrative matter that requires only the approval of the Department Head, the Dean, and the Department of Human Resources.
2. Any proposal to change a faculty member’s rank from any of the non-professorial or fixed term ranks to a regular faculty, tenure track appointment funded all or in part from state accounts must be treated as a priority staffing request. Such proposals must be presented to the entire faculty of the Department for their discussion, evaluation, and approval before submitting the request to the Dean.